PINE GROVE - John Toomey learned Wednesday morning in homeroom that he would be the starting pitcher in the Schuylkill League baseball championship game later that evening.
As he sat in school during the day, the Pottsville senior right-hander pictured different scenarios in his head, including a dogpile of his teammates near the mound and hoisting the Schuylkill League championship trophy.
With another superb performance in a big game, Toomey helped the Crimson Tide turned those dreams into reality.
Toomey pitched five strong innings and Eli Nabholz drove in a pair of runs as Pottsville defeated Tri-Valley 5-1 in Wednesday's title game at Stump Stadium.
The victory gives the Crimson Tide (13-8) their first overall Schuylkill League crown since 1984 and a preferential seed for next week's District 11 Class AAA Tournament.
"I found out in homeroom, about 8:30 this morning," Toomey said. "I just pictured scenarios like this, the dogpile, everything. I love these kind of situations, tough games. I knew I was ready."
The Crimson Tide's No. 3 pitcher behind Nabholz and Travis Blankenhorn, Toomey impressed Pottsville head coach Mike Welsh with his performances in wins over Wilson West Lawn and North Schuylkill.
With Nabholz ineligible after pitching in Tuesday's semifinal win over Minersville, Welsh and his staff felt having Toomey start and bringing Blankenhorn in to finish it was the best course of action against the Division II champion Dawgs.
"John has been in some big games this year and come up big," Welsh said. "Having Travis at shortstop gives us a real solid look in the infield. I spoke with those guys today and we said, 'Ideally, John you give us a great start and Travis comes in and closes the door.'
"We felt in the sixth inning, they were coming up the third time through the lineup, we felt it was time to make the change. John had done a great job holding them down and allowing us to get a small lead. I felt it was the right time to do it, and Travis came in and did his job."
Toomey scattered seven hits, walked one and struck out four in five innings, needing just 55 pitches. He was backed by a series of key defensive plays that prevented Tri-Valley (17-5) from putting together a big inning.
In the first inning, Collin Maurer led off the game with a single. After Toomey fanned Cale Bruso, he picked Maurer off first base. The pickoff proved critical when Hunter Bordner followed two pitches later with a booming double to left-center that would have scored Maurer.
"Those pickoffs were really important," Toomey said. "I looked over quick, threw over quick a couple of times. I knew he would be leaning, so I threw over again and got him."
Pottsville turned double plays in the second and fourth innings, got a great play at shortstop from Blankenhorn to end the third inning and caught courtesy runner Tyler Lucas off first base on a bunt play in the fifth inning.
Tri-Valley scored its run in the second inning when Hunter Herb singled and Conrad Opozda doubled to score Lucas, but the baserunning miscues and the double plays prevented the Dawgs from scoring more.
"We could have scored early. We had a couple of baserunning mistakes," Tri-Valley coach Bob Felty Sr. said. "I thought Devin (Masser) gave a gutsy effort. He kept us in the game, which is all we could ask for. We didn't do the little things well enough to win."
Pottsville opened the scoring in the bottom of the first when Ty Painter and Blankenhorn singled, moved up on a wild pitch and scored on a groundout by Nabholz.
The Crimson Tide broke a 1-1 tie in the fourth when Dan Doyle scored on a sacrifice fly by Tyler Moser, and Nabholz's RBI double in the fifth inning made it 3-1. Pottsville tacked on two more runs in the sixth inning on safety squeeze bunts by Darion Jacoby and Painter.
"I knew I needed to get a ground ball up the middle to try and get the first run of the game, and I was able to do that," Nabholz said of his first-inning RBI.
"On the double, Travis was on first base and I knew he'd be stealing at some point. He was stealing on that pitch, I got a good pitch to hit, put a good swing on it, and it happened to be in the gap. That was a big point in the game."
Blankenhorn retired Tri-Valley in order in the sixth and seventh innings, getting four of the six outs by strikeout.
After the final out was recorded, Blankenhorn and catcher Hinchliffe chest bumped near the mound and were mobbed by their Crimson Tide teammates.
The last time Pottsville won a baseball championship of any kind was the 1998 District 11 Class AAA crown.
"It's good to put gold around my neck for once," Toomey said. "It feels good."